"To Buy Or Not To Buy"

Years ago, I was working on a show in Toronto, when my boss came in one morning, and announced that he had just purchased a new Mercedes.

On some primal level, I felt a general uneasiness about buying a car from a country that had been terminally unhelpful to my people, and, being me, I neglected to keep my feelings to myself.

My employer, a co-religionist, immediately tore into me.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, indignation coating every word. “Do you know how many Jews the Mercedes company has hired – in sales, in accounting, in strategic planning, in office management, in design?”

I looked down at my shoes, humiliated and justifiably chastened.

“How many?” I asked sheepishly.

“Not one!” he replied.

Following it up with a “Gotcha!” glimmer.

It was a wonderful joke. And a great thing about me? I couldn’t have been more delighted to have been “gotten.”

I was the “Unknowing Dupe.”

And I had played my part brilliantly.

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On Sunday, my daughter Anna will turn 28, which makes me considerably older. Despite the chilling reminder of my teetering mortality, I acknowledge this milestone, and I honor my miracle of a daughter, who continues to make me happy when skies are grape

Happy B-Day, A.B.P. I love you to pieces

Dad.

"Dad"? Who else is writing this?"